Ceph
The Ceph, short for Cephalopods, also known as the Charybdis, are a group or species of technologically advanced aliens who arrived on Earth approximately 65 million years ago, and represent the primary antagonists of the Crysis series. They are hostile towards humanity and are waging what appears to be a war of extermination against them. Although there are several theories, it is speculated that they have been acting to prevent human degradation of the Earth's environment. The Ceph on Earth originate from the Triangulum Galaxy, also known as "Messier 33", located in the constellation Triangulum, approximately 3 million light years from Earth. Their most recent activity prior to the events of the series occurred some 2 million years ago, after which they went into a dormant state until 1919, when Jacob Hargreave set in motion events in Tunguska that led to the eventual awakening of all Ceph lithoships across the Earth, though this began with minor activities and technology testing in early 21st century until their complete awakening by the Korean People's Army on Ling Shan islands. Overview The true origin and age of the Ceph is completely unknown. The earliest record on them is that they arrived at the Solar System 65 million years ago along with multiple space vessels/seeding ships with unknown purpose (though the one on Earth is similar to a scientific outpost). The seeding ship found on Earth is thought to be the cause of the mass-extinction event at the time, and it was rendered inactive for an unknown period of time before becoming active again, gathering energy along with other Ceph devices across the planet to form a network. Their purpose is also expanded upon in the novel. Hargreave speculates that, since the Ceph have such advanced technology that can create practically anything they can think of, their sole interest is in the things they can't think of, namely surprising proteins and organisms that evolution gives rise to over millions of years of adaptation. If this is the case, then the Ceph stationed on Earth are only an automated system programmed to wake up every once in while to scout the planet for scientific data that might be useful. According to the Gardener Theory speculated by Jacob Hargreave, the Ceph on Earth might be "gardeners" that look after a "garden" (Earth), nurturing its life and observing evolution of all lifeforms on it. Their fight with humanity is in fact, similar to how a gardener trying to cut weeds, or the owner of a house (Earth) finding bugs in their home. This came from when the Ceph awakened and soon found out that humanity is slowly destroying the Earth, making their work that spanned many millions of years gone to waste. After the capture of Alpha Ceph, when C.E.L.L scientists spent 20 years cracking their communications and studying them, they came to the general consensus that the Ceph and their language were so far beyond the understanding of humanity that most of their work is all but speculation, leading them to underestimate much of their Ceph-derived technology. However, though, they were able to gain some vital information on the unimaginably more advanced extragalactic Ceph from Triangulum Galaxy. It is known that the southern spiral arm of the galaxy is a part of a vast, billion-year-old web of countless planets, ships and colonies that make up a single over-hive called Hyperion. Two much smaller but still immense over-hives existed in M33 Galaxy is Iapetus to west of galactic core and Coeus at the eastern fringes and another one million additional hives, each covering three or more star systems. The age of Hyperion suggested that it might have been another seeding ship from more ancient Ceph, as the entire M33 Galaxy Ceph is only half a billion years old while Hyperion is one billion years old. History The Ceph have been on Earth for at least 65 million years, and are implied to have seeded Earth with the basics of an ecosystem. They left behind infrastructure that would periodically awaken and study that ecosystem for unique proteins that may have evolved. For most of human history, they laid dormant - even after Jacob Hargreave and Karl Ernst Raschtriggered a catastrophic explosion in one of their facilities in Tunguska. Only in 2020 did they fully awaken in response to American and North Korean forces tampering with another facility under the Lingshan Islands. This is the first Ceph Colonization Stage, before they had become adapted to the "new" Earth humans had created. Through the events from Crysis 2 the Ceph begin to adapt to the Earth triggering Ceph Colonization Stage 2. Through the events from Crysis 3 the Alpha Ceph opens a Einstein-Rosen Bridge to their parent galaxy in order to bring their main invasion force to eradicate all humans, known as Ceph Colonization Stage 3. Crysis During Crysis, the Ceph (though not referred in name) were first "officially" discovered in the Lingshan Islands by a CIA-tracked archaeological expedition led by Dr. Rosenthal, who had unearthed fragments of their technology in other parts of the world. Subsequently, the North Korean government became aware of the alien technology and dispatched the Korean People's Army to secure the Lingshan Islands in an attempt to appropriate it. In turn, the United States, after being urgently contacted by Dr. Rosenthal, also sent American military forces backed by the USS Constitution, USS Lexington and USS Maine carriers group in for a rescue mission and to prevent the KPA from acquiring the artifacts. Inevitably, the Koreans under General Kyong succeeded in activating the structure (which Kyong called a "temple") and inadvertently awakened the Ceph, who shortly thereafter deployed an "ice sphere" which flash froze most of the island and killed everything that was within range. Robotic Ceph forces overwhelmed American and Korean forces remaining in Lingshan, forcing them to evacuate. The United States sanctioned a limited nuclear strike against the ice sphere, but instead of dispersing, the sphere absorbed the nuclear explosion and expanded, prompting the Ceph to send a massive counterattack that sank the entire U.S. carrier group (Constitution and Lexington sunk by Ceph Warrior and Maine is frozen by the Ice Sphere). The Lingshan Ceph were composed of almost entirely robotic units or heavily armored weaponized "exoskeletons". Weapons seemed to follow a pattern of ambient energy absorption: practically all units had the ability to drain nearby energy sources be it nuclear and electrical, and more direct weapons came in the form of freeze rays and high-powered icicle launchers, as well as energy-based explosives and more "traditional" energy beams. Crysis comic During the Crysis comic, the bipedal Ceph exoskeletons used in the New York Incursion 2 years later seem to be available on Lingshan as well. However, the tentacles are black and the armor seems be slightly different than what's seen in New York. Other variants are also seen, such as a small drone-like walker that can shoot down a VTOL with a single shot and a giant bipedal exoskeleton several times taller than a human. There are also living tentacles inside the alien ship, which no longer have an anti-gravitational field. The ice sphere is notably absent in the comic, though it is possible for it to be simply out of view. On the other hand, a carrier fleet is headed towards the island to rescue the now destroyed carrier fleet on Lingshan Island, as well to prevent the Ceph from advancing any further. Crysis 2 The Ceph in Crysis 2, which still relate to the aliens from the original games, appear to employ different strategies and technologies than the group at Lingshan, as well as having a different morphology. They seem to have gone so far as to actually mimic human combatants, relying of more "conventional" forces such as dedicated infantry, armor and air units. They have replaced their hovering trooper automatons with cybernetic soldiers composed of what appears to be an alien being encased in a suit of armor that grants it mobility, agility, great strength as well as a diversity of weapons. These weapons appear to function via some kind of projected energy; however they might as well be a sort of projectile, since they are referred to as "shells" in Crysis: Legion. These soldiers come in Grunt, Stalker, and Heavy classifications, as well as some Command variants. Their Hunters and Scouts have been replaced with huge, heavily-armed tripod tanks known as Pingers, and gunships armed with missiles and rapid-fire weapons that mimic human military helicopters. Troop deployment is done via the use of specialized dropships, to transport and deploy troops via drop-pods. The Ceph that emerged from underneath New York City also deployed what appeared to be a weaponized plagueagainst the inhabitants. This "spore" was invariably fatal upon even the most limited contact, and was generally deployed via massive mechanical "spears" that emerged from underground, disseminating a thick cloud of nanite-viruses into the air. Crysis: Legion, however, reveals that the "Manhattan Virus" functioned as far more than a bioweapon for the aliens. Most of their technology was covered in receptor proteins for the spore; it is described as an "antibody system" that makes a desired area of the Earth suitable for alien habitation by eliminating hazardous macrofauna (humans), and the Nanosuit 2 was eventually modified to re-program the spore to attack the alien biology. Crysis: Legion While the events of the Ceph in New York City largely remained the same to the game, further details on the Ceph and the post-''Crysis'' events are extended on, such as the Ling Shan islands being "glassed" by a superweapon and the carrier fleet that was sent to the island and the Ceph on it have "vanished" without a trace. Three months prior to Crysis 2, the lithoship in NYC begins to awake, causing not only the east coast of the USA but the entire continent of North America to suffer strange and large-scale weather events. The Ceph only start to begin activity only from day 23, before that they were collecting human biomass to create new Ceph units while still observing human activities. The perfected nanite-virus is named "Nano Spore", the Central Park spike tower is a terraform engine of the lithoship beneath the NYC and what it released is a mass-produce of the "Nano Spore" which has the power to destroy not only tristate, USA but also the entire planet. Crysis: Escalation Few mentioned about the Ceph except some info on them during the Human-Ceph Global war. At some point in 2024, the Ceph occupies London, which forced UK Navy to destroy south London and the city to stop Ceph's incursion. In 2034, C.E.L.L finished their construction of Nanodomes on NYC and begins to build many others on former Ceph-occupied regions, after the destruction HMS Robin Hood. Chino, Earl and Hank managed to escape C.E.L.L only be ambushed by a group of Ceph Stalkers. Earl and Hank are killed by the Ceph and Chino is rescued by Dane. Crysis 3 After the events in Crysis 2, Cephs from the various hideouts across the globe attacked humanity in many countries and regions quickly fell to the Ceph, even after the deployment of the modified nanite virus/Nano Spore and Archangel, the Ceph were too persistent and overwhelming to be defeated. C.E.L.L made their last push at Tunguska to capture the Alpha Ceph and once they had they used it to harvest for energy C.E.L.L. once the Ceph in general lost the guidance of the central hive-mind, their activities were largely reduced and some, like the Stalker units, reverted to their almost animalistic behavior and most of them entered dormant state due the lack of energy and many lithoships were "neutralized". Such inactivity led humanity to believe that the Ceph threat is over. At some point, C.E.L.L researchers and scientists began to crack the Ceph's communication and studying them. Along the way, they learned about the other Ceph and the ancient M33 galaxy hives as well as the true nature of the Ceph's activities. This finally revealed that the Ceph are staging a planetary colonization process for Earth. The Ceph colonization process takes place in three stages: Stage One as explained in the comic are units largely reliant on the mothership for energy, meanwhile techno-organic units fan out to harvest energy - any and all kind - to give birth/create/awake a central intelligence, the "Alpha Ceph," while establishing and securing their territory or "sensitive area". With the nuclear strike in Crysis, ''the Alpha Ceph came to being, and the Ceph proceed into Stage Two. Stage Two Ceph, as seen in ''Crysis 2 and Crysis 3, are no longer as reliant on the mothership for energy supplies, with their units largely adapted to deal with local environment and native species' resistance. Such learning and adaptations goes beyond exoskeleton and platform designs, but devices that are tantamount to those being used by the local species, like auto turrets and "smart" landmines. In Crysis 3, Prophet would unwittingly release the Alpha Ceph from its confinement, resulting in the dormant Cephawakening and destroying everything in their path. Within hours, both C.E.L.L and Resistance forces suffered heavy casualties. Hundreds of C.E.L.L operatives were reported to be killed and the Resistance is quickly overwhelmed and scattered across NYC. The Nanodome is destroyed, all Defense Towers are mostly neutralized. C.E.L.L responded by sending in reinforcements but were unable to stop the Ceph. C.E.L.L. was forced to use Archangel to vaporize New York, though the plan was foiled by Prophet, Psycho, Claire and Karl Rasch (who under Alpha Ceph's control). As Alpha Ceph (through Rasch) revealed its plan to commencing Stage Three: By using its immense energy supplies, it opens and maintains a wormhole in the planet's orbit. This wormhole is connected to the Ceph's homeworld in the M33 galaxy, and from there come their warrior caste - Ceph dedicated purely to warfare - to completely annihilate any and all species that stands in the their way. The Alpha Ceph appeared and pinned down Prophet, Claire is wounded for shielding herself for Prophet, Psycho barely gets them back on foot, Rasch was released from Alpha Ceph's control and told the group to escape before the Alpha Ceph finished him off. Near the end of Crysis 3, Prophet ultimately killed it in battle inside the NYC lithoship, resulting in all the Ceph being disintegrated. However it was too late, and the Ceph from the M33 galaxy managed to make it through the wormhole. In orbit, Prophet commandeered the Archangel defense satellite and used its energy beam to shoot at the massive Ceph warship coming through the wormhole, destroying it. The warship's subsequent detonation closed the wormhole, and ended the Ceph invasion for the time being. Physiological Ceph possess many similarities to Cephalopodic species of Earth primary tentacle like appendages, boneless like body structure. Their skin is blue and seem to thrive in low gravity environment. Though they share many physical similarities with the Cephalopodic species of Earth, the Ceph are actually a hive species like ants, and share a single collective intelligence, rather than an individual, human intelligence like our own. The Ceph do not think like us. Their intelligence is vast, but they are so utterly different in terms of how that intelligence functions and how it manifests itself, that the Ceph genius can be difficult for a human being to even comprehend. Though it may seem counter-intuitive to us, the Ceph have become so very successful by being a reactive species. While human civilization is built upon knowledge being steadily passed on from generation to generation, each new Ceph hive begins with relatively little inherited knowledge from its parent hive, but instead has a deadly ability to adapt and react - and react fast. It is this ability that makes the Ceph able to succeed and thrive in a billion unimaginably different environments - from earth-like planets, to high gravity gas giants and ice spheres, or the unimaginably hot, the unimaginably toxic and the unimaginably strange regions of dark matter and warped space-time, where our rigid human thinking would at best be useless, and at worst send us mad in seconds. The human brain may have evolved to dominate one specific planet, but the Ceph hivemind is engineered to dominate an entire universe. Some Ceph, like Alpha Ceph, have a psychological ability to control people, like Laurence "Prophet" Barnes, Karl Ernst Rasch.'' The Alpha Ceph has a physiological and/or telekinetic power greater than the Mastermind. Technology Ceph possess highly advance technology which helps them to adapt to any possible environment. In Earth's case the Ceph created exoskeletons to better adapt to Earths gravity. '''Inventory' Infantry * Ceph Tick * Ceph * Ceph Grunt * Ceph Grunt Commander * Ceph Reaver * Ceph Trooper * Ceph Guardian Trooper * Ceph Shadow * Ceph Devastator * Ceph Guardian * Ceph Stalker * Ceph Stalker Commander * Ceph Leader Trooper * Ceph Mastermind * Alpha Ceph Vehicles * Ceph Armored Assault Unit * Ceph Scout * Ceph Orange Scout * Ceph Hunter * Ceph Red Hunter * Ceph Scorcher Aircraft/Spacecraft * Ceph Spotter * Ceph Gunship * Ceph Dropship * Ceph Scout * Ceph Orange Scout * Ceph Warrior * Ceph Spaceship